A strong upper level storm system moving across the southern Rockies brought strong westerly winds to west Texas and southeastern New Mexico on Thursday. Extremely low relative humidities also accompanied the westerly winds and these conditions resulted in several wild fires across the region. The following is a satellite image depicting active wild fires as of 3:30 PM CDT Thursday.

Below is a radar image showing the smoke plumes from ongoing wild fires.

The next graphic shows the direction and speed of the peak wind gusts around west Texas and southeastern New Mexico as of 4 PM CDT.

Strong westerly winds will continue across much of west Texas and southeastern New Mexico Thursday afternoon along with minimum relative humidity values generally in the 5-15% range. The very windy conditions and low relative humidities will continue to create very favorable conditions for rapid and explosive fire growth and spread across all of west Texas and southeastern New Mexico this afternoon. Thick smoke from these wild fires will reduce visibilities across area roadways. Motorists are strongly urged to avoid areas where wild fires are burning.